Shadow
by ilovespikespiegel
Summary: "You humans are so foolish." he paused; a smirk grew across his face. "However, Seren, you have the soul of an Asgardian. Why else would Fury have brought you along? You're the shadow of your sister; that's all you'll ever be. Unless of course, you decide to join me." I'm Jane Foster's sister. Adopted. And falling pretty hard for the god of mischief. LokixOC
1. Chapter 1

**"She was like April sky **  
** Sun rise in her eyes **  
** Child of light **  
** Shining star**  
** Fire in her eyes**  
** Bright as day**  
** Melting snow**  
** Breaking through the chill**  
**October and April"  
-The Rasmus**

* * *

I was born on October 13, 1992. It was a Tuesday and easily one of the nicest days of the year. I don't remember it, of course, but that's the way it was described to me by my parents. Well, foster parents. Since the age of seven, I was moved between at least ten different foster homes; it would have been more, if not for the Fosters adopting me officially when I was thirteen. Let me explain it from the beginning.

My birth mother named me Seren Skye, Seren means "star" in Welsh. She said that my eyes were so dark blue, that any little glint of light glimmered off of them like the stars in the night sky. After I was born, for six years, everything seemed perfect. I was an only child, and both of my parents worked, so most of the time I was with a babysitter. My father took an interest in my babysitter one day, and eventually they had an affair. When my mother found out, she left. It was as simple as that. No note, no phone call, nothing. She just fled. My father started drinking after being sober for ten years. Everything started falling apart around me. The next year, my father became an alcoholic, a violent one. He and his friends would get drunk in the basement until one of them decided to wander upstairs and harass me. One of them tried to force me to touch him; I refused and tried to run away, but he caught my arm and pulled me back. I tried to scream but he covered my mouth and forced himself on top of me. By that time, my father came upstairs looking for his friend. He saw what was going on and yelled at _me_ for bothering his friend. That was the day I ran away. When the two of them went back downstairs, I ran into my room, packed a backpack with my belongings, and left.

I walked up the street to the shelter where I'd spend the next few nights until finally child protection services came looking for me. They took me to a children's home until my first set of foster parents adopted me. I stayed in my first foster home for about two months until they grew tired of me and decided to give me back. This same thing happened again and again with each foster family I was moved to. It was always the same thing; a couple couldn't have children so they decided to foster me and then a few months later, they'd decide they didn't want me. I was smart, really smart actually, but I wasn't pretty. The couples that came into the children's home wanted attractive children, so that they could be proud to be seen with them, proud if people thought they were their birth children. Intelligence wasn't important to them, it was all based on appearance. Abandonment was all I'd known as a child, until that last move.

* * *

I was thirteen years old. A man came into the children's home with his sixteen-year-old daughter and asked if there were any older children there. Older, like me. Most couples wanted toddlers or babies so that they could raise them on their own; nobody wanted am emotionally scarred teenager with a broken childhood. The receptionist directed them to the backyard, where I spent most of my time alone on the swings.

"Seren, this is Mr. Foster and his daughter Jane. Why don't you come say hello?" the receptionist always had a way of belittling me; even if it was just talking to me as if I was in Kindergarten again.

I didn't want to go to another foster home; I was tired of being moved from place to place, but there was something about them that made me feel warm and welcomed, without even talking to them yet.

I slowed down my swing and was about to hop off when Jane walked over and sat on the swing beside me. "You don't have to get off the swings," she smiled. "We can talk right here if you'd like."

Mr. Foster walked over and put out his hand. "Hey there, my name's Bill Foster. Your name is Seren, right?"

I nodded. "It means 'star' in-"

"Welsh."

"How did you know?"

"I'm a professor at the University of Albuquerque. Physics professor actually, but I know a lot about onomatology too. It's the study of the origin of names." He smiled.

I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face until I was grinning from ear to ear. He actually knew about where my name came from. He actually _cared_. All of my other foster parents hated my name; one of them even compared it to saran wrap. We talked for a long time, the three of us. Mr. Foster told me that his wife died a few years after Jane was born and that Jane had always wanted a little sister.

He asked me about my favorite subjects in school. "I wasn't very good in school because of moving from home to home so much," I paused, "but I always really liked science. I wanted to take archery in school, but nobody would pay the fee for the class."

Jane and Mr. Foster glanced at each other before Jane asked, "What else do you like to do for fun? Or would you like to do if you could have?"

"I've always wanted to take karate! Kung Fu actually. My foster parents always told me karate was for boys; ballet was for girls." I sighed. "I've never been much of a princess sort of girl."

Jane high-fived me and said, "Me either."

After what felt like hours of talking, the receptionist sighed and said, "There are other children we'd like you to meet, Mr. Foster."

I felt tears swell in my eyes and looked down at the ground to try to push them back. Of course the Fosters wanted to meet other children; of course they were going to meet some kid that's more _suitable_ for them, as the receptionist always said. I wasn't _suitable_. Nobody wanted a broken teenager with a name like mine that wasn't even interested in things most girls were. I had to get used to being abandoned; but in all honesty, after all I'd been through since I was six, I already _was_ used to being abandoned.

"We don't need to meet any others," Mr. Foster said kindly to the receptionist, before crouching down in front of me and asking, "What do you think, Rennie? Would you like to come and live with us?"

Rennie? The only person who ever called me Rennie was my birth mother. "R-really? You mean that?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Of course!"

The receptionist quickly interrupted our conversation. "Even if you do decide on choosing Seren, it takes at least a week for everything to be processed and settled."

"Then we'll see you in a week, Rennie." Mr. Foster said, smiling, before shaking my hand.

Jane gave me a hug before telling me how excited she was that I wanted to come live with them. I was the one that was excited beyond words. She didn't understand, neither of them did. I was pretty sure they weren't informed on how screwed up my childhood was, and that if they did know, they probably wouldn't want me. But, I tried to just smile and hope for the best. I tried to comprehend the idea that a family actually _wanted_ me to live with them. It was one of the best feelings in the world.

After the receptionist led them back into the building, I hopped off of the swing and ran inside up to my room. Even if there was still a week until the Fosters came back to get me, I could hardly wait. I wanted to pack then and there. So, that was what I did. The same backpack I used when I ran away from home was the one I used when I moved from foster home to foster home too. I stuffed it tightly with all of my clothes, and the only other belongings I had. Pictures. Pictures of me when I was a baby, pictures of my birth parents, pictures of the three of us when we were happy together. It was all I had. Remnants of what once was a happy family.

* * *

The receptionist made sure to remind me multiple times over that week of the fact that the Fosters might not come back for me. "I'm not sure you're suitable for their household. Julie has been here only a few months and she is much better suited for them. She came from a good home, it wasn't her fault that her parents died."

Oh. Okay. So it was my fault that my father had an affair? My fault that my mother ran off? My fault that my father became an alcoholic? Well, I'm sorry for being the cause of so much hell then. The receptionist always had a grudge against me; I never completely knew why. The very first day I was brought to the children's home, she said that there was something about me that didn't seem normal. I never said I wanted to be normal. I only wanted to be loved. Why do I keep calling her "the receptionist" instead of her real name? Her real name was Sasha, but since she refused to stop mocking _my_ name, I refused to acknowledge hers. Even if I did call her Sasha, it wouldn't change the fact that she hated me; she loved to remind me how messed up I was, and how nobody would ever adopt me. She wasn't wrong. Every couple that adopted me always got tired of me and brought me back. They treated me as if I was a video game they'd beaten or got bored of; they would bring me back and trade me in for a better version.

As the week drew to a close, my anxiety levels were heightened. I couldn't help but worry about whether they would come back for me or not. My room was pretty much empty, except for the mirror hanging on my wall above my empty dresser. I took one last glance in the mirror at myself; my ugly self. I had hair the color of sand and it hung around my face to my shoulders. My skin was the only thing flawless about me, besides the fact that I couldn't tan even if I wanted to. I was pale, _ghostly _pale. The other kids at the children's home used to tell me I looked like a corpse because of how pale I was, but I didn't mind; I had the complexion of a china doll.

Friday, one week after the previous Friday, the day the Fosters came to meet me and then decided they wanted me to live with them. The day I had been waiting all week for, even though Sasha had told me not to get my hopes up. I waited outside on the swings with my backpack on my back. The sunlight reflected off of my bracelet into my eyes. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my bracelet; it has "Seren Disglair" printed on it, which means "bright star." It was given to me by my birth mother when I was very young. It was the only thing I had from my mother, so I always kept it close to me.

It was around noon when a car pulled into the driveway of the children's home and I heard a man's voice from the front of the building. I couldn't see who it was through the fence around the backyard, but I truly hoped it was Mr. Foster and his daughter. About a half hour later, which felt like the longest half-hour of my life, he and Jane walked out of the building and came into my range of vision. There was lots of hugging and smiling and before I knew it, I was leaving the children's home for good. Mr. Foster officially adopted me that day. I had a father and a sister that actually _wanted_ me around.

It was the best experience of my entire life. The moment I got into their car, Jane handed me a large present. I couldn't resist opening it immediately and I could barely believe my eyes when I realized I was holding a bow. A _real_ bow and arrow.

"My friend Darcy's father is an expert marksman and he offered to give you lessons once a week if you're interested," she said.

I nodded and tried to form the words to reply with, "Yes, thank you so much! I would love that."

Back at the Foster's house, Jane showed me to my room, which was very big and very beautifully decorated. The walls were a light pale shade of green, my favorite color, and there was even a mesh canopy overtop of the bed. It was the bedroom of my dreams, literally, and I couldn't have been happier. I sat down on my bed and dumped all of my clothes out of my backpack. When I opened my dresser to put away my clothes, I saw that there were already some clothes there.

"We didn't buy you a whole lot of clothes yet because we weren't sure what you liked," Jane said while helping me re-fold all of my clothes from my backpack.

"They're perfect. All of it is. I can't thank you enough, Jane. You and your dad are just amazing," I said while trying to hold back tears of happiness.

She pulled me into a hug. "Hey, Ren, don't worry about it. We just want you to be happy. My dad knew you were special the moment he met you."

"You have no idea how much all of this means to me," I paused. "But, what am I supposed to call your dad?"

"You can call him whatever you want to, Ren," she smiled, "whatever you feel comfortable with."

I nodded and after we finished putting away my clothes, Mr. Foster came into the room and asked if there was anything else I needed to make me feel more at home. Everything was perfect. A week later, I had my first archery lesson with Mr. Lewis, Jane's friend Darcy's father. He told me that I was a natural.

A few months later, I started calling Mr. Foster "dad" and Jane and I were best friends as well as sisters. They signed me up for Kung Fu lessons, just like I wanted. They gave me everything I could've wanted. I started earning straight A's in school. It was the ideal family life, just like I had always dreamed of. That is, until the year I turned seventeen and my whole world fell apart almost as fast as it came together.

* * *

**A/N: So, this is my first ever Loki fic, and I hope it was well-written and I hope that you all like Seren so far. Loki will show up in either the next chapter or the one after that. Any opinions or criticism is greatly appreciated and also, please review and favorite/follow because I promise you that this story gets better. I've been fangirling over Loki for so long now, that I figured I might as well write a Loki story :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**"He was like frozen sky**  
**In October night**  
**Darkest cloud**  
** Endless storm**  
**Raining from his heart  
****Coldest snow **  
** Deepest thrill  
****Tearing down his will**  
**October and April**"  
**-The Rasmus**

* * *

When I turned seventeen I was a junior in high school, my sister Jane had already graduated two years before, so I had to deal with my last two years of high school by myself. Right after my sixteenth birthday, our father was diagnosed with lung cancer and after battling it for over a year, he passed away. We were both devastated, but I felt worse for Jane than I did for myself. She lost her mother when she was very young and now she'd lost her father too. The funeral was a small, intimate gathering of Jane's grandparents from both sides of the family, her aunts and uncles, and her distant cousins.

About a year after our dad died, Jane moved to Puente Antiguo, New Mexico, so that she could attend college with her friend Darcy. Both of them were majoring in astrophysics. I had no interest in going to college after I graduated; I had the grades for it, obviously, but it just wasn't for me. High school was hard enough to deal with. The high school in Albuquerque was filled with nothing but preppy, rich kids who thought they were better than everyone else, especially me. Nobody wanted to be friends with the smart chick, but it wasn't just my intelligence that intimidated them. After taking Kung Fu classes and perfecting my skills as an archer, I wasn't one to be messed with. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the group of pathetic seniors from harassing me every single day.

"So you were adopted, right?"

"Yeah, what does it matter?"

The girl scoffed. "It doesn't. _You_ don't. That's why you were adopted, get it?"

Not that I was surprised in the end, but that girl ended up being Julie, the same girl from the children's home where I spent a lot of my childhood. She was adopted a few months after me by a fairly wealthy couple. Even though she had it better off than I did, and even though it _wasn't her fault_ that her parents died, she still tried to make my life a living hell. She and her friends cornered me in the bathroom one day around lunchtime and refused to let me leave until they were done telling me all of the reasons why I should just kill myself and make everyone's lives easier.

No, I didn't try to commit suicide. I did, however, have a breakdown one night and resort to slicing my arm with a razor blade. Self-harm can be as addicting as heroin, so it is something you really have to be careful with. I lived in the house by myself, since Jane was in college and our father was dead, so leaving someone like me alone with my mind was never very smart. I started to develop depression and self-destructive thoughts and tendencies, but instead of taking it out on my own body, I turned to my archery. I'd imagine those girls' faces on the targets and shoot an arrow straight at the bullseye without even flinching. My senior year came and went rather quickly, thankfully, and I was standing on the stage at my graduation in a matter of no time. I didn't make that much of a big deal out of graduating; I was just happy to be done with school. Right after I graduated, I decided to start studying the field of astrophysics, on my own, without going to college. I took online classes and practically lived at the library until finally, I passed all the tests needed to become officially certified.

Three years later, I moved to Stuttgart, Germany after getting a job offer from the local museum. I was put in charge of the new scientific wing, which meant setting up new exhibits, orating tour groups on the wonders of astrophysics, and finally, furthering my own scientific knowledge. It wasn't more than a month of my working at the museum, when I was offered a position in the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. They wanted to take me on as an agent because of my apparent _skill set_; but I declined their offer. Just because I knew how to defend myself and could hit a target with my bow blindfolded did _not_ mean I wanted to be a part of an organization. But, Nick Fury, their executive director, would not give up that easily.

"Ms. Foster, considering the latest incident in New Mexico, it would be in your best interest to stay in close contact with us," Fury said while standing in the doorway of my office.

I already told him over the telephone that I wasn't interested in joining S.H.I.E.L.D, but there he was anyway, standing in my office. "How does what happened in New Mexico have anything to do with me? Just because I used to live there?"

He sighed and stared at me for a moment, as if I was expected to already know the answer to his question. "Are you not Jane Foster's sister?"

"I'm her adopted sister," I paused because that's all I was ever really known as to people. "Why? Did something happen to Jane?"

I would be lying if I said that Jane and me were still best friends like we were when we were children. The truth was that we started drifting apart after she moved to Puente Antiguo, after our father died; we both dealt with the grief differently. She preferred to be alone, while I would've much rather stayed in the company of others; but I was the only one living in our house in Albuquerque until I moved to Germany by myself, so I was alone either way.

Fury dropped a file onto my desk and said, "I'm guessing the two of you don't keep in touch?"

"Not lately." I opened the folder and asked, "What is all of this?"

The folder's contents were beyond anything I'd ever seen in my life, except for within my sister's research notes. She used to talk about there being other worlds in the universe, but I'd never given it much thought before. There was a picture of an aurora with a column of smoke stretching towards the ground, a picture of a strange crop-circle like etching into the ground, and a picture of a large hammer stuck in the ground. There were other pictures too, but I wasn't even sure what to make of them. All I knew was that I'd certainly missed out on _a lot_. Fury explained to me that a man named Thor, who was actually the god of thunder, fell from the sky after being banished from his world, known as Asgard.

"Thor's brother, who goes by the name of Loki, sent a destroyer down from their world; it nearly leveled out the entire town of Puente Antiguo," Fury said.

History wasn't my specialty, but I'd learned about Thor and the other Norse gods when I was in high school. I've never _seen _a Norse god in person before though.

I nodded and finished looking through the folder. "Okay, I understand, but what does any of this have to do with Jane?"

"Your sister was the one who found Thor and I suppose you could say she became his _love interest. _So, seeing as you are Jane's sister, Ms. Foster, it would be in your best interest to remain in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody until Loki is captured."

"Wait! What do you mean _captured?_ He's here on Earth?" I asked. "I think you failed to mention a large part of the issue at hand here."

Fury sighed and shook his head. "The Tesseract," he said before handing me a photograph of a glowing blue cube, "it's an energy source of _unknown_ potential. It's been stolen by Loki, along with some of our best agents, under his control. It's crucial we find him and retrieve the Tesseract. The fate of the universe depends on it, Ms. Foster."

"You aren't telling me why this involves me. It involves my sister, obviously, so why don't you go and recruit her to help you find the Tesseract?" I glanced at the clock on my desk; it was almost seven in the afternoon. "I have to finish up my work here. There's an art gala here tonight, and I'm in charge of setting up."

He told me, very plainly, that my sister had already been taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody for her protection not long after Loki stole the Tesseract. That was all I needed to hear to know that I wanted nothing to do with Fury and his espionage agency. It was incredibly wonderful to be able to grow up with such wonderful people as the Fosters, but to only be known as "Jane Foster's sister" all my life was aggravating. I was me. Seren Skye. For once, I wanted to be known for myself, not because of Jane. I told Fury I wasn't interested. He insisted I keep the file anyway, in case I decided to change my mind, which was highly unlikely, but I didn't argue. Fury left my office, finally.

I sighed and flipped through the file again, but all of it seemed so bizarre that I didn't want to read anymore. I needed to clear my head, so I took the stairs up to the roof for some air. The gala was starting at eight o'clock, and honestly, most of it was already set up earlier that day, but I had to tell Fury _something_ to get him out of my office.

The air was crisp and dry, which was to be expected in the middle of July. I tried to breathe in the air and relax my nerves, but there was too much running through my mind. Asgard. Thor. Loki. Other worlds. I didn't understand any of that. I mean, it made sense once Fury explained it all; I am considered to be very intelligent after all. All I had to do was get through the gala and then I could go home and sleep. Just three hours of making sure everyone was taken care of. That was all. From the rooftop, I could see the parking lot and all of the surrounding stores and buildings of Stuttgart. People dressed in fancy suits and gowns hustled into the museum below; my cue to head back inside.

Inside the gala, everything seemed like such a blur. People drank and ate hors d'oeuvres while the head orator of the museum introduced himself to everyone. The gala was rather boring in my opinion, which led to my wandering throughout the throngs of people until a particular man caught my attention. His sleeked black hair and bright blue eyes certainly made him stand out from everyone else at the gala, along with the blue glowing orb at the end of his cane. He was standing on the second floor, looking down onto everyone else from over the railing. I couldn't take my eyes off of him as he made his way down the winding staircase.

Who was this guy? Where did he come from?

He was getting closer and closer to me since I was standing on the first landing of the stairs, and he would have to pass right by me in order to get to the main floor. Our eyes met and he held my gaze for a moment; a sly smirk grew across his face as he approached me.

"I don't remember seeing you come inside," I said once he was standing in front of me. "I don't even think I've ever seen you before."

The man clenched his cane tightly in his hand while I spoke. He said nothing.

I stared at the glowing orb on the end of the cane, wondering how it was being powered. "How ... what is that glowing?"

"You know not of me, nor of the powers of the Tesseract? Well, allow me to demonstrate." He raised the cane towards my chest and smirked.

None of this was right. Something wasn't right about this guy. Wait, did he say the powers of the _Tesseract?_ I quickly blocked myself from the cane and knocked it out of his hands; it fell to the floor with a clank. The man stood there frozen for a moment; he did _not_ expect that turn of events. I turned around and tried to walk away as fast as I could, but in a matter of seconds, he appeared in front of me with his cane in hand again.

"If that's powered by the Tesseract, then you must be..." I started until he raised his cane once again; he lowered it after realizing I wasn't going to back down.

He smirked and gave a slight laugh. "What do they call you?"

I swallowed hard. "Seren. Seren Foster. You probably know of my sister Jane, everyone does," I said, trying to avoid eye contact with him; every time our eyes locked gazes, chills ran up my spine. "And since you're using the Tesseract, you must be the one Fury was telling me about."

"What an odd name for a human, but I suppose your actions stand as worth of that name. You're not a thing like your sister, however, I rather enjoy your attitude. It's not every day a mere human dares to defy me," he stated while walking past me.

A mere human? "Wait! You never told me your name..."

He stopped walking. "I am Loki, of Asgard; and I suggest you stay out of my way if you wish to retain your life. I spared you once, remember that," he turned just enough for our eyes to meet and concluded, "I'll be seeing you again, Seren; that I can assure you."

With that, Loki walked down the stairs and left me standing on the landing, completely in awe. I let the man with the Tesseract just walk right past me and out of my hands. I placed my hands on the railing and only then did I realize that my hands were clammy and shaking. My heart was pounding and it felt as if someone had stolen all of the air from my lungs. What the hell was wrong with me? Why would Loki be attending an art gala in Stuttgart unless he had an ulterior motive? I had to go after him; it was bad enough that I let him walk right past me, even after knowing who he was. I had to fix this.

"_I suggest you stay out of my way if you wish to retain your life..."_

Loki's words echoed in my head, but I wasn't afraid of him, even _he_ knew that. What I was afraid of was the way he made me feel, that spark that ignited when our eyes met. I wasn't sure if he felt it too; he probably didn't considering I'm a _mere human_ after all. My feet refused to move forward from where I stood. Something was keeping me standing there and it wasn't my shaking hands.

It was Loki.

* * *

**A/N: I apologize for the delay in uploading this chapter! It took me a lot longer to write this than I had originally thought it would have. I promised that Loki would show up in this chapter, so I had to come up with a good entrance. :)**

**Thank you to everyone who favorited and followed this! It means a lot to me. Any reviews are appreciated as well because I'm writing this for all of you and if you want to see something specific happen or if you think I should change something, don't hesitate to let me know :) **

**I watched that Stuttgart scene like ten times just to make sure I got everything right XD**


	3. Chapter 3

**Like hate and love **  
** Worlds apart**  
** This fatal love was like poison**  
** Right from the start**  
** Like light and dark**  
** Worlds apart this fatal love was like poison **  
** Right from the start  
-The Rasmus**

* * *

I didn't realize how bad the situation _really_ was until I heard everyone scream and run out of the building. From over the railing, I saw the head museum orator lying on the double ram's head platform with his left eye socket covered in blood. He wasn't moving and I was pretty sure he was dead. Loki did this.

I forced my feet to move forward, but once I had, I started to wish I hadn't. Loki was walking casually out of the building behind the running crowd of people. His cane grew elongated and pointed on one end, golden armor adorned his outfit, and a large horned helmet appeared on his head. All of it happened as if by magic. Considering he _was_ Loki of Asgard, I shouldn't have been so surprised.

"Loki, stop! What is going on?" I shouted after him once I reached the main floor.

He stopped walking and turned around to grin at me; I felt shivers go down my spine. In a matter of seconds, he teleported in front of me, grabbed hold of me from around my waist, and then teleported outside of the museum. He kept me by his side the entire time, not that I really had any intention on trying to escape. I couldn't take my eyes off of him, he was so handsome and strong. A police car sped towards us so Loki raised his scepter and aimed it at the car. A blue bolt of energy shot out from the orb on the scepter and engulfed the car. It flipped and skidded to a stop a few feet away from us.

"Why are you doing this?" I shouted at him. "I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt anybody."

I was lying, obviously. With my agility and self-defensive skills, I wouldn't have to worry about keeping to my promise, so I said it anyway. This was still all my fault; if I hadn't let him walk away the first time, then he wouldn't be shooting blue flames from his scepter at innocent people. Loki teleported us to the stairs in front of the museum, after creating at least four more of himself surrounding the crowd of people. They were terrified. He stood me in front of him, and since I was quite a few inches shorter than I was, it worked out perfectly for him.

I felt the sharp point of the scepter digging into my back as he growled softly into my ear, "You are my decoy. You will do as I tell you."

"Like hell I will!"

He dug the scepter harder into my back until I winced in pain. "Make them kneel before you."

I turned around towards him, raised an eyebrow at him, and asked, "You're kidding me, right?" he had already moved his scepter out of my reach by that point because he knew I wasn't going to be controlled by him. I would fight back.

Loki glared at me before stepping beside me and shouting, "I said KNEEL!" He struck his scepter against the ground and everyone kneeled cautiously but immediately, because who in their right mind would object to someone dressed like Loki with that scepter? Well, other than me.

"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?" he began while walking down the stairs towards the crowd of people kneeling before him. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity."

He teleported behind the crowd and then back again once he realized I was still standing on the stairs. "You were made to be ruled. In the end," he glanced at me, "you will always kneel."

I swallowed hard. What was I supposed to do? Run? No, I couldn't. Loki had some sort of purpose in choosing _me_ as his decoy because even if that's all I was, there had to be a reason why he chose me out of everyone else at the gala. Was it because of my spunk? Because I stood up to him?

"I would never kneel to you!" I shouted before another elder man rose from his knees and said, "Not to a man like you."

Loki smirked and winked at me. "Oh really? I suppose we'll have to see about that."

I could feel my jaw drop from shock. He was flirting with me right then and there, while everyone else kneeled before him on the ground.

He turned to the man that rose from his knees and said very confidently, "There are no men like me."

"There are _always_ men like you!" the elder man said in reply.

Loki raised his scepter towards the man. "Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example," he said just before shooting blue energy towards him.

I grabbed his scepter, but not in time to stop him from shooting it. A man clad in a red, white, and blue suit landed in front of the elder man with a large shield just in time to deflect the energy blast back to Loki, knocking him off of his feet. I was left holding his scepter, which I dropped towards Loki instinctively. It wasn't for a few moments that I realized the man who saved the elder man was Captain America, the man who survived being frozen for seventy years.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing," he said while approaching Loki.

When he saw that I was standing on the stairs where Loki had been, he asked, "Are you alright miss?"

I nodded and watched Loki get to his feet again. "The soldier. A man out of time," he said before teleporting up to me, picking me up again, and then teleporting me back to the ground with him.

"I'm not the one who's out of time. Let her go, Loki. She has nothing to do with this." Captain America said calmly.

Behind us in the distance, a strange military-grade helicopter opened its hatch and a gun was lowered, aimed at Loki. "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," a woman's voice said loudly from an intercom in the helicopter.

Loki shot the scepter towards the helicopter but missed, in which time Captain America saw the opportunity to move in for attack. He and Loki fought back and forth, Loki with his scepter and Captain with his large shield and strength.

"Get out of here while you can!" Captain shouted at me after Loki knocked his shield a few feet away from him.

I couldn't. I could help. Loki knocked Captain to his knees on the ground and held his scepter to his head. "Kneel." I moved in quickly and used all the strength I had to grab the scepter out of his hands once again.

It gave Captain the perfect chance to get to his feet and kick Loki, knocking him back a few feet. "Not today," he said in reply to Loki's command.

They went on fighting for a few more minutes before in the distance, a bright beam of light in sky drew closer and closer like a firework until it shot towards Loki, knocking him onto his back on the ground in the distance. It was Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man. I hadn't met Iron Man or Captain America before, but when you watched the news a lot, you heard about everything. That was why I was so surprised I hadn't heard about what happened in New Mexico with my sister. Iron Man held his hand aimed towards Loki as a threat if he dared to attack or anything of the sort. Captain moved beside him and the two of them surrounded Loki, with me standing beside them.

"Make a move, reindeer games," Iron Man said.

Loki made his armor and helmet disappear just as he had made it appear earlier and raised his arms in surrender. He was surrendering, just like that? I was still holding the scepter when Iron Man and Captain America turned towards me.

"Princess, I would put that thing down if I were you," Iron Man said.

It was nice to be in charge for once, to be the one holding the weapon; it was such an interesting weapon at that. It was almost as if it shot out blue flames that engulfed whatever they touched. I glanced at Loki who was still on the ground where he landed. Our eyes met and once he realized I was still holding his scepter, his face became totally unreadable. I wasn't surprised though, I mean in all honesty, he had no idea what I was going to do with it. I could've shot the damn thing at him if I wanted to, but of course I didn't want to do that. However, I _did_ want to try it out.

I looked around me for something completely safe that I could shoot at and finally settled on a bush. I raised the scepter the way I saw Loki do so and then I shot the blue energy flames at the bush, igniting it. Iron Man and Captain were speechless. I turned around towards Loki and when our eyes met, a smirk grew across his face. This was certainly not the way _anyone_ had expected this night to turn out. The other two glanced at each other, at Loki, and then back at me.

I walked over to them while holding the scepter and they both raised their weapons the way they did towards Loki. "Here," I said while handing it to Iron Man, "I just wanted to try it."

Even though I knew there was no way I was going to able to walk away from this situation completely free of any consequences, I still tried. I winked at Loki and then turned around and started walking away.

I managed to walk not even three feet before Iron Man blasted himself in front of me and said, "You're Jane Foster's sister, right?"

"Yep, just like always."

I continued walking until he came in front of me again. "Then you're going to have to come with us, Princess. Fury's orders."

"Is this because I set the bush on fire?" I really did not feel like being interrogated by Fury again. "I'm not working with Loki or anything, if that's what you think."

He glanced from Loki to me. "Does _he _know that?"

"Why does it matter?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders.

"Loki killed nearly a hundred people in the last two days. None of them even dared to stand up to him, let alone set things on fire with his glow stick of destiny. For whatever reason, Loki is keeping you around. I want to know why," he said before blasting himself back to Captain America.

I tried to overhear what they were saying, but I could only hear a little bit of the conversation. "I don't care what Fury said, I don't even think this woman's on our side, Stark. Are you sure it's such a good idea for her and Loki to be in the same place together? She very well may be a threat."

The response didn't come from Tony Stark, it came from Loki. "That's where you're wrong. She won't choose a side. She cares not for what one decides as good or evil," he paused and locked eye contact with me. "She's only a threat if she chooses to be, if given a reason to be."

"And what exactly would she consider a reason to become a threat?" Captain asked Loki.

The God of Mischief grinned at me before replying, "I guess you'll have to figure that one out for yourselves."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who favorited and followed! And thank you to theladyofthelost for reviewing :) **

**I need reviews from you guys so I can know if you like the direction the story is going or not. Or if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them! **

**As always, thank you for reading 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**You could be empty**  
** and I can be right here empty with you**  
** or you could be hollow**  
** and I can be right here hollow with you**  
** If you want to say goodbye to everything,**  
** I could say goodbye too**  
** I can be right here empty with you.  
-The Used**

* * *

Back on the helicopter, even though it was more of a jet, they cuffed Loki's hands behind his back and tied him to his seat. They told me to stay sitting on the opposite side of the jet; Captain wanted to tie me to my seat too, but Tony told him that it wasn't necessary. A woman was at the controls of the jet, but I didn't ask who she was. I didn't say much of anything really. Tony and Cap argued quietly in the distance about something; I assumed it was about Loki and me, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

Out of nowhere, lightning nearly struck the side of the jet and thunder boomed in the distance. "What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Cap asked Loki.

I hadn't even realized that Loki seemed concerned about the weather until Cap said something. He made eye contact with me but didn't hold it for very long.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki said.

What did he mean by that? Just as I was about to ask him, something landed on the jet and the whole thing jolted. Tony put his Iron Man helmet back on and then opened the ramp to investigate the situation. A blonde-haired man clad in silver armor landed on the ramp with a large hammer clenched in his fist. He walked towards Iron Man and before Tony even had a chance to react, he was thrown backwards by the man's hammer. I jumped out of my seat and ran over to make sure Tony was alright, the man grabbed Loki and jumped out of the jet with him in his grip.

"Now there's _that_ guy," Tony said while getting to his feet.

The woman at the controls asked, "Another Asgardian?"

Asgardian. Oh my god. "That's Loki's brother, Thor!"

Tony started towards the ramp. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Cap said.

"I have a plan. Attack."

Iron Man jumped out of the jet to go after Thor. Cap grabbed a parachute and strapped it onto his back to follow them. The woman at the controls turned around and told him he'd be better off sitting this one out, but in the end, Captain America jumped out of the jet after the others too.

I was left standing in the jet with the other woman. "So, what's your name?"

"Natasha Romanoff. I'm an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury's told me _a lot_ about you. Seren, right?" she asked.

"Yes," I nodded. "But what's Fury told you about me?" I looked behind me out the window to see if I could tell what was happening on the ground, but all I could see were trees.

Natasha flew the jet closer to where they all landed so that they could re-capture Loki, I assumed. "I'm told that you have a similar skills set to both that of Agent Barton and me." She turned around and smiled at me. "You're definitely an asset to S.H.I.E.L.D., that's why they called you in. It's nothing to do with Loki, at least, not that I'm told."

I just smiled and nodded. What was I supposed to say? I didn't even know who Agent Barton was. I didn't even _really_ know who Agent Romanoff was yet. All I knew was that she seemed really tough, nice obviously, but she also didn't look like the kind of person that would stand for being pushed around; kind of like me. So maybe she was right, maybe I _was_ very similar to her.

There was no clear view of what was happening between Tony, Cap, Loki, and Thor until Natasha brought the jet much closer. By that time, the three of them had leveled out the whole forest within a mile, while Loki sat in the rocks on the mountain and watched them. I couldn't help but giggle under my breath. Loki wasn't even trying to get away, and he didn't resist being brought back onto the jet either.

When everyone was back on the jet, Cap and Tony talked to Natasha up front while Thor and Loki sat across from me in the back of the jet.

"What are you called?" Thor asked me after staring at me for the last five minutes.

I parted my lips to speak but was interrupted by Loki saying, "She goes by Seren ... Foster."

"Are you not the sister of Jane Foster?"

"Yes, I'm her adopted sister." I nodded.

Thor smiled. "Is she of good health?"

It was quite entertaining to me the way Thor and Loki spoke, like they'd been taken out of the Shakespearean time period. "We don't really talk much. She's still living in New Mexico. But I'm pretty sure she's fine, so no worries there."

I saw Loki staring at me out of the corner of my eye, so I turned my gaze towards him. He smirked for a moment until he realized that Thor was watching his every move. But, what did Loki have to hide? Smirking? He did _that_ all the time. Was it because he was smirking at a mere human? I sighed and tried to forget about all of the craziness for a little while; I closed my eyes and pretended to drift off to sleep. Surely someone would wake me up when we got to wherever we were going if I actually did fall asleep.

"Loki, what is your involvement with this woman?" I heard Thor ask his brother while I pretended to be asleep.

I heard Loki laugh and say, "My _involvement_ with her goes no farther than her being my decoy, my _pet."_

Whoa, wait a minute there. His pet? Loki considers me his pet?! What the hell was that supposed to mean? As much as I wanted to jump on him right then and there, I held my tongue and kept my eyes closed. This was a conversation I certainly didn't want to miss any part of.

"You know she is not of Midgard origin then?" Thor asked, but before I could hear Loki's response, I really did fall asleep.

* * *

"Miss Foster?"

I opened my eyes and realized I was still on the jet, but everyone else was gone except for the man speaking to me. "Hmm? Yeah that's me, but call me Seren or Ren or Rennie, whichever you prefer. Anyway, where did everyone go?"

The man said, "I'm Agent Phil Coulson. Director Fury sent me to bring you to-"

"Bring me to where? I'm tired of being brought to places. I don't even know where I am," I paused and sighed. "So, Phil, I'm assuming I can call you Phil, before you go and take me wherever Fury told you to take me, why don't you tell me what on earth is going on?"

Tony walked into the jet and stood beside Phil. "You're gonna be assisting Dr. Banner and me. We're trying to track the Tesseract's gamma signals. I'll explain it all on the way, Princess, so let's go."

Dr. Banner as in Bruce Banner? The Hulk? Well, this should be interesting, but at least I knew where I was going. I nodded and followed Tony out of the jet and onto a large ship that was holding a few other jets. I'd never seen anything like it before in my life. It was some sort of helicarrier. I followed Tony to the briefing room inside of the ship where the others were, everyone except Loki. As soon as we walked in, Tony started explaining things to the others about Iridium and the cube and even though I was certified in astrophysics, I wasn't good with technical explanations.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Cap asked.

The man who I hadn't met yet, but I assumed was Dr. Banner said, "He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier."

After Tony and Banner talked more about quantum effects and ion fusion, he officially introduced me to Dr. Banner.

"She's sort of a _mini_ version of Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton, and well me, minus the suit," he said to Banner.

Dr. Banner shook my hand and said, "Well it's nice to meet you and it's nice to know that someone else aboard this ship can help locate the cube."

I smiled and followed them into the lab where they had Loki's scepter set up so that they could scan the gamma radiation signals emitted from it. Tony glanced from the scepter to me and then moved me to the other side of the lab.

"You, stay here," he said to me, "far away from _that_."

I laughed. "I'm sorry about earlier, Mr. Stark."

"Don't sweat it, Princess. And call me Tony." He smiled and then went back to assisting Dr. Banner in locating the Tesseract.

I watched them work for a moment and then a major question popped into my head and started flashing like a light bulb. Where the hell was Loki? I knew that they would never tell me, obviously, so I came up with an excuse to leave and go exploring.

"I'm gonna go find the bathroom," I called behind me at whoever was listening before I walked out of the lab; neither of them answered, so I just left.

After walking for what felt like hours, and legitimately finding _no_ sign of a bathroom anywhere, I ended up in a totally different section of the helicarrier. Before I could even make it around the corner, I heard a very familiar voice.

"I told you I'd be seeing you again."

I turned the corner and was then standing face-to-face with Loki, only this time, he was enclosed in a huge glass cell. S.H.I.E.L.D. certainly took precautionary measures in dealing with _threats_ to humanity. Okay, well, maybe Loki actually was a threat, but he didn't scare me, not one bit.

I walked up to the cell and placed my hand on the glass. "I was looking for the bathroom, by the way. It's not like I was trying to come here and find you." I paused. "Okay fine, maybe I was looking for you. I had a question I wanted to ask you, Loki."

"You humans are so foolish to even think I'd waste my time on you," he paused; a smirk grew across his face. "However, Seren, you have the soul of an Asgardian. Why else would Fury have brought you along? You're the shadow of your sister; that's all you'll ever be. Unless of course, you decide to join me."

He walked up to the glass until it was practically the only thing separating us; I bit my lip and looked away. "I don't know why you take to me so much. That's what I wanted to ask you actually."

"I'm listening." He said, waiting for me to ask.

"When we were all on the jet together, right before I fell asleep, your broth... I mean Thor said to you that I'm not of _Midgard origin_? What does that mean? I'm not of Asgard origin; that wouldn't be possible."

He laughed and turned to walk the other direction towards the bench inside the cell. I thought he wasn't going to answer my question so I called his name again. Loki turned back around and stared into my eyes and it felt as if he was staring into my soul; I'd never seen someone with eyes that blue before, it didn't look natural.

He placed his hand on the glass directly against mine. "No. You are not of Asgard, nor of this realm. You are a descendant of Freyja, Queen of Vanaheim."

I could almost feel my jaw drop. "Wait, so I'm from Vanaheim? What even is that? Another realm? How is that possible?"

"You ask too many questions, but since I have nothing better to do," he gestured to the cell surrounding him, "I'll explain everything."

* * *

**A/N: I had already typed up an author's note but it didn't save. Anyway, thank you to everyone who favorited/followed/reviewed this story, it really means a lot to me! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Twenty years earlier_**

In the realm of Vanaheim, the goddess Freyja sat upon the throne in utter despair. "Elysa, bring me my daughter Hnoss. I must speak with her at once."

"Yes my queen." The handmaid, Elysa, nodded and left promptly.

Freyja never considered her handmaids as slaves; she saw them as human beings and thought them to be of higher worth than slaves. Elysa returned moments later with Hnoss at her side. She was one of two sisters, Hnoss and Gersemi. The handmaid went back to doing what she was instructed to do, while the queen spoke with her daughter.

"Dear child, your father has not returned. Have you heard anything in regards to this matter?" she asked while running her fingers through her daughter's long sand-colored hair.

Hnoss turned around towards Freyja and saw the worry in her eyes. "No, Mother, I am sorry. I have not heard anything. Nor do I have any knowledge of where my daughter has gone."

Elysa quickly returned from another room and said, "My queen, Nevyn has confessed to me that she saw King Odur leave early yesterday with the baby."

The queen stood up from the throne and walked towards her handmaid. "Did Nevyn speak of where they had gone?"

"She said ... that they went to Midgard."

Freyja could not understand why her husband would have done that, why he would've just left her there and taken their grandchild to Midgard. Odur said nothing to anybody before he left with the baby grandchild. He had received word from the Asgardians about an expected invasion by Jotunheim sometime in the coming fortnight. King Odur couldn't risk losing the entire Vanir race to the Frost Giants, so he did the only thing he could think of. He took the youngest Vanir child and brought her to Midgard so she could live without worrying about a takeover by the Jotunn race.

King Odur placed the baby on a family's doorstep after saying, "Dearest Seren Skye, I love you and assure you that you will have a good life here on Midgard. I wish that things could be different, but this is the only option."

* * *

**_Present Day_**

Loki finished telling me the story and I just listened in total shock. "So, what happened to Vanaheim? After the invasion?"

"Your father returned to Vanaheim to help them stop the invasion but there were too many for the Vanir to stop," he paused and stared into my eyes intently. "You are the _last_ Vanir in existence."

I shook my head and felt tears rush to my eyes. None of this had any way of being true. It wasn't possible. I wasn't a princes from another realm.

I couldn't hold back the tears. "This bracelet was from my _birth _mother, _she_ named me because of the way the light glimmered off of my eyes. How can you stand there and tell me that my birth parents weren't even from this realm?"

He watched me have a breakdown and said nothing. I couldn't expect Loki to know what to say, even if I really was ... what he said I was. By the way he looked at me, I could read the concern in his eyes without him even having to say anything. What did I expect him to say or do? This was my problem. My entire life had been a lie.

I wiped the tears out of my eyes just as I heard a voice say very sternly over the intercom, "Miss Foster, please return to the briefing room immediately." I didn't even know who was speaking but it sounded like the man who woke me up when I fell asleep on the jet.

I looked up at Loki and he smirked at me. "Go ahead and humor them. I know they're going to tell you to stay away, but I _know_ you'll be back."

Our eyes met and I couldn't help it, I had to smile. It was as if Loki and I shared a greater and deeper connection than any other two people on the planet. I know that probably sounds lame, but technically we _did_ had a deeper connection. He was a Prince from Asgard and I was a Princess from Vanaheim. And I mean, sure, we were on the same aircraft as the Hulk and Iron Man, but Loki's and my skills were given from birth.

Before I was called over the intercom again, I sighed and said goodbye to Loki. The briefing room was the first room I was brought to on the helicarrier, but I honestly had no idea how to get back there. What would I rather do, spend who knows how long searching for the stupid room or stay and talk with Loki? Obviously the latter, but guess which one I ended up doing?

It took probably twenty minutes for me to make my way back to the briefing room from the detention level, and when I finally did make it to the room, everyone was waiting for me to give me hell.

"You were specifically told to stay away from Loki and you were definitely _not_ authorized to be down there with him," Phil said to me.

I opened my mouth to speak and was interrupted by Cap. "Loki is going to keep filling your head with lies and stories until he has you brainwashed into joining his side."

"No you don't under-"

"He knows you're not afraid of him, Princess. He's using that against you and making it seem like he's the good guy here," Tony interrupted.

There was seriously no way to get a word in edgewise. I looked towards Thor, Loki's brother, and pleaded non-verbally for him to speak up in Loki's or my behalf.

He smiled at me and then said, "If I may say something?"

Thankfully, the others finally shut up long enough for Thor to speak. "I know what Loki is capable of and why you assume Lady Seren is in harm's way by being near him, but have no worries. He means her no harm. She is not of this realm and he holds her value much higher than he does of others."

"Even so, we don't need Loki brainwashing her into helping him. You forget he's still trying to take over the world," Cap said to Thor in response.

I just watched them all argue back and forth before finally I grew tired and decided to lean up against a wall. My eyelids kept getting heavier and I could feel myself drifting off to sleep until I didn't fight it any longer. Yeah I realized I was sleeping against a wall, but I needed a break from all of the chaos and craziness that was going on.

I woke up a little while later in a bed in a room, with no idea exactly where on the helicarrier I was or how I got there. They must've noticed I was sleeping and brought me there, but I couldn't complain; I needed the rest. When I tried to get out of my room, I expected the door to be locked from the outside or something like that, but it wasn't. I realized after stepping out of the room that something was _terribly_ wrong. Not just something, everything was wrong. I could feel it without even knowing it for a fact.

As if I had verbally announced what I was just thinking, none other than Loki appeared in front of me in the blink of an eye. "My offer still stands."

"What? Loki what the hell is going on?"

The last time I saw Loki, we were separated by four inches of glass. I knew there was no way in the world, or any other world, that anyone aboard the helicarrier would let Loki out of his cell.

I just stared at him in awe until he said, "Are you coming with me or staying behind with the scattered heroes?"

"I ... I don't understand."

He smirked at me and raised his scepter up to my chest again; my first instinct was to knock it away from me but he grasped my arm and brought me towards him until we were close enough for his words to come out as whispers on my neck. "I have gone this long without causing you any harm, why would I start now?"

"Care to see what's happened to Fury's pathetic band of aberrations?" I bit my lip to keep from saying anything and then finally, he let go of me but still kept me at a close distance.

I nodded.

He brought the scepter up to my chest again but instead of pressing it into my skin, he told me to grab onto it. I hesitated. Loki reached down and took ahold of my hand into his own, which sent chills down my spine, and placed it around the scepter. He didn't let go of my hand while it was on the scepter either. Almost instantly, I saw the terror unfold in my mind. I saw Dr. Banner turn into the Hulk and destroy the lower level of the helicarrier and then fall plummeting to Earth. I saw Thor inside of Loki's cell which was dropped out of the shoot and disappeared into oblivion. The helicarrier was falling out of the sky and Phil Coulson was dead. With so much destruction and despair, it was hard to believe we were still on said aircraft.

Wait...

"Loki, we _are_ still on the helicarrier right?" I asked before I looked around and realized that it really looked nothing like it.

He smirked and pulled me closer to him, while we were still grasping his scepter. "I was supposed to let the Princess of the Vanir fall to oblivion?" I could feel his breath on my lips, that was how close he had me to him.

There was something about him that I couldn't resist. He was stunningly handsome and his voice was smooth and like a purr to my ears. He was still the _bad_ guy though, at least according to everyone else. To me, he was just Loki, Prince of Asgard and well, every prince needs a princess right?

* * *

**A/N: Thank you all for the reviews and to all my new favorites/followers! Yes I realize that Darcy isn't majoring in astrophysics but since she isn't even in the story other than indirect references, I don't really think it's that big of a deal. But thank you to everyone who did say something about it. **

**This chapter was a bit shorter than the others because I have been so busy with work and I'm not really sure what direction the story is going to take after this chapter so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know :)**


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